What's the world's largest Christian website?

Editor's note: This is the third part of a series of columns by WND founder Joseph Farah as the pioneering, trailblazing, independent, alternative online news site celebrates its 20th year in business Thursday, May 4.

A funny thing happened on WorldNetDaily's effort to set off an alternative news revolution 20 years ago this week.

Along the way, we achieved a plateau outside of our objectives – become the largest Christian website in the world.

Understand what I'm saying here: I don't mean WND became the largest Christian news website. I mean the largest Christian website of any kind – and that includes major ministries, broadcast sites, megachurch sites, even the Vatican's!

How does WND qualify? Isn't WND a general news site for everyone? Yes, it is. But it has always stood upon a strong Christian foundation – unabashedly so and unapologetically so.

is there a contradiction between content from a Christian worldview and news? Not at all. News is about seeking the truth. And Jesus said to know the truth, and it will set you free (John 8:32).

Newspapers were the institutions in which American journalism was first practiced. They are the institutions I cut my teeth in for 20 years, running major-market dailies for much of that time. Did you know that most of the great American newspapers began as openly Christian enterprises? That's right – even the New York Times.

So, it would be a tough case to make that Christians don't have any business running news organizations from the perspective of their Christian worldview. And that's what we did from the beginning 20 years ago. We didn't do it in a way that would limit the audience to Christians, but we certainly found that the vast majority of our readers fall squarely into that category.

Are you surprised that most of the great newspapers were founded by Christians with a distinctly Christian worldview? Don't be. The same is true of the great universities and colleges. While most of them compromised and secularized over time, America had strong Christian foundations from the start.

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In fact, it was those Christian foundations that led directly to America's unique constitutional commitment to a free press, as well as freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Not surprisingly, as America drifts far away from those Christian foundations, we see support for the First Amendment principles eroding.

That's why WND is comfortable in its unique position as a Christian business. It's why we're so selective about the kind of advertising we accept, the kind of content we produce and our position as a watchdog of government.

For too many Americans, government has become the highest authority. To us, God is the ultimate authority. It's the Supreme Being's rules and judgments that mean more to us than the Supreme Court's and man's laws. That positions us to be a motivated watchdog of Washington.

I'll be honest with you: The rest of the media, including my friends in the alternative press, don't give God much consideration.

We give Him all the consideration.

We do this knowing many will not be interested in what we do. But it also means we often change people's hearts, not just their minds.

We also realize now what a vast un-serviced marketplace we serve – uniquely, I might add.

When we figured out a few years ago that WND was the largest Christian website in the world in an era when digital communications reign supreme, it was a shocking discovery. It instilled in me and our entire staff a profound sense of responsibility – one we aim to take very seriously as long as we have breath.

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